- The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Categorizing Religious Organizations: In Search of a Theoretically Meaningful Strategy
- Conversion
- Charisma and Authority in New Religious Movements
- Disaffiliation and New Religious Movements
- Seekers and Subcultures
- Quantitative Approaches to New Religions
- Psychology and New Religious Movements
- As It Was in the Beginning: Developmental Moments in the Emergence of New Religions
- The North American Anticult Movement
- The Christian Countercult Movement
- Legal Dimensions of New Religions: An Update
- Brainwashing and “Cultic Mind Control”
- From Jonestown to 9/11 and Beyond: Mapping the Contours of Violence and New Religious Movements
- Conspiracy Theories and New Religious Movements
- Satanic Ritual Abuse
- Cult Journalism
- Invention in “New New” Religions
- Children in New Religions
- Media, Technology, and New Religious Movements: A Review of the Field
- New Religions and Science
- Gender and New Religions
- Sex and New Religions
- Occulture and Everyday Enchantment
- Rituals and Ritualization in New Religions Movements
- The Mythic Dimensions of New Religious Movements: Function, Reality Construction, and Process
- Religious Experiences in New Religious Movements
- New Religious Movements and Scripture
- Material Religion
- Hagiography: A Note on the Narrative Exaltation of Sect Leaders and Heads of New Religions
- Millennialism: New Religious Movements and the Quest for a New Age
- What Does God Need with a Starship?: UFOs and Extraterrestrials in the Contemporary Religious Landscape
- Late Modern Shamanism in a Norwegian Context: Global Networks—Local Grounds
- Modern Religious Satanism: A Negotiation of Tensions
- Western Esotericism and New Religious Movements
- The New Age
- The Study of Paganism and Wicca: A Review Essay
- Native American Prophet Religions
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
New religions are religions. The fact that they are new is important, but it does not change the fact that they are religions. Similarly, rituals in new religions are rituals with the same functions and basic structures as those found in traditional religious settings. However, during the formative period of any given religion, the religious emphasis will be of a special kind. Members of new religions typically consider themselves an elite, they believe that they live in special times, they await great transformations, sometimes their teachings is clouded in esoteric structures, and they position themselves in a more or less outspoken opposition to the prevailing societal and religious order. These traits are all identifyable in the new religions’ ritual lives. Introducing several examples this chapter illustrates some of the more important aspects of these mechanisms.
Keywords: New religions, rituals, ritual innovations
Mikael Rothstein is Assistant Professor in the Department of History of Religions at the University of Copenhagen. He specializes in the study of new religions and is the author or editor of several books on the subject. He is a member of the board of the Research Network on New Religions (RENNER), based in Denmark, and Editor in Chief of CHAOS, a Danish-Norwegian journal on the history of religions.
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- The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Categorizing Religious Organizations: In Search of a Theoretically Meaningful Strategy
- Conversion
- Charisma and Authority in New Religious Movements
- Disaffiliation and New Religious Movements
- Seekers and Subcultures
- Quantitative Approaches to New Religions
- Psychology and New Religious Movements
- As It Was in the Beginning: Developmental Moments in the Emergence of New Religions
- The North American Anticult Movement
- The Christian Countercult Movement
- Legal Dimensions of New Religions: An Update
- Brainwashing and “Cultic Mind Control”
- From Jonestown to 9/11 and Beyond: Mapping the Contours of Violence and New Religious Movements
- Conspiracy Theories and New Religious Movements
- Satanic Ritual Abuse
- Cult Journalism
- Invention in “New New” Religions
- Children in New Religions
- Media, Technology, and New Religious Movements: A Review of the Field
- New Religions and Science
- Gender and New Religions
- Sex and New Religions
- Occulture and Everyday Enchantment
- Rituals and Ritualization in New Religions Movements
- The Mythic Dimensions of New Religious Movements: Function, Reality Construction, and Process
- Religious Experiences in New Religious Movements
- New Religious Movements and Scripture
- Material Religion
- Hagiography: A Note on the Narrative Exaltation of Sect Leaders and Heads of New Religions
- Millennialism: New Religious Movements and the Quest for a New Age
- What Does God Need with a Starship?: UFOs and Extraterrestrials in the Contemporary Religious Landscape
- Late Modern Shamanism in a Norwegian Context: Global Networks—Local Grounds
- Modern Religious Satanism: A Negotiation of Tensions
- Western Esotericism and New Religious Movements
- The New Age
- The Study of Paganism and Wicca: A Review Essay
- Native American Prophet Religions
- Index